Latest revision as of 01:35, 30 December 2018

The Longjiang River is the largest obstacle along the S10 Baoteng spur expressway that branches off from the G56 to the city of Tengchong in western Yunnan Province. To get across the 300 meter deep river gorge, the engineers have designed the longest span high bridge on earth with a tower to tower distance of 3,924 feet (1,196 meters) - nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge. Longjiang surpassed the distance of both Aizhai and Balinghe Bridges which previously held the long span record honors among the world's highest bridges.

The Longjiang crossing is also unique among China's big mountain suspension bridges with a thin steel box girder deck that breaks away from the traditional truss deck used on earlier bridges like Siduhe, Balinghe, Lishuihe and Aizhai. Yunnan's Puli Bridge also has a steel box deck. The tallest tower on Longjiang Bridge measures 167 meters in height.

The main cable cross section showing the order in which the smaller hexagon bundles will be placed during the process of cable spinning.

A number of borings were made at different points on the river slopes. The pieces are numbered to show the ground composition at progressively deeper elevations. The location of the borings are indicated by highway kilometer points.

Longjiang Bridge and highway location map.

A satellite view of the Longjiang Bridge site with the main span drawn in.